Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Looking for Joy


I woke up this wet, gloomy morning from a nightmare. I've been a mom, a cleaner, a chef, and an office admin. None of that's done anything for my mood. It was definitely time for me to get down to doing something that brings me joy. 

What brings you joy?

Mediums: watercolor, pen, photoshop

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Just Hit Pause!

Hey there:
O.K. life, can we just agree to take a minute and breathe?? Things have been moving so fast and so continuously for me I'm not even sure which way is up anymore. I couldn't go another day without at least saying "Hi" to everyone. I miss you all too much.

When my life thinks it's a movie:
The other day, my husband and I were kid free. That doesn't happen very often so when it does, we like to run buck wild. I mean, if you consider viewing crazy old Cathedral's, art work, shopping, dining, and movies "buck wild" - then we. fit. the. bill. Baby! My husband and I have never been big fans of the "Fast and the Furious" franchise but the surprisingly high ratings suckered us in for this latest one. On the way to this magical movie going, we stopped at a red traffic light. You know. Like you're supposed to. As the light turned green  it was like a fellow driver, knew we were going to see "Fast and the Furious 6", and they wanted to give us a taster. Someone driving a 1970 Barracuda tore out from the intersection and disappeared from sight in about 3 seconds. 

image src: Autoblog.com

Dear driver, I know it's a bitter disappointment but I feel obligated to point out, you aren't really Vin Diesel. And even if you were Vin Diesel, you would still need to obey the speed limit. I'm just sayin'.

After the movie, (which we found fairly entertaining and you should totes go see if you don't mind some tongue in cheek action flick silliness), we found ourselves first hand witnesses to a slow-mo car chase between a civilian and a police officer. Neither were going more than 30 miles per hour, but neither were giving up. Because that's how we role here in the U.K. yo.

Because that's just too hostile:

To follow up our surreal movie going experience over the weekend and entertain the kids, we decided to do something all parent-y. We took the kids to Stonehenge. I managed to get some great photos while we were there. Our exodus took us through the gift shop of course. And lo', I found myself in a face off with a determined 7 year old who desperately wanted his, "very own bestest Stonehenge t-shirt ever! Pleeaaase!? Please, mom? Pretty pleaaaassee?"  And that's when I was struck with the inspiration to use my photos for a higher purpose. I'm going to make him his own personalized Stonehenge t-shirt. The first idea I had was shot down by my husband.


So now I need to work on a more kid appropriate shirt. It has to be a design the little old man, who is trapped in my 7 year old's body, will think is cool. I'll keep you posted.

Don't be afraid:

And last but not least, I wrestled once more with my fear of baking any kind of pastry. The mythical powers of pastry have long intimidated me. My whole life it's been drummed into me just "how hard" working with pastry is. I've finally made the leap of faith, into the pastry breach. I've started using pre-made shortcrust or puff pastry goods in my baking. Yes. Even those have intimidated me. What?! Yes! I'm that big of a baking wimp. What of it??


It might not be pretty but it's all mine and it's super tasty. I was so surprised at how easy this recipe for a rhubarb tart was. I made a few modifications of my own, like a teaspoon of cinnamon and vanilla bean paste drizzled over the rhubarb mixture. It was so easy. I thoroughly recommend it for any newbie trying to tackle pastry.  You're welcome!